Last day at school .................By Komal Arora

It is 1 of the memorable days of my life. When I was in India I had thought that this day will be the best day. No studies, no work, no more getting up early in the morning. But my classmates were very friendly. The way they talked to us, explained us everything. I still remember one of the girl named Sarah from a school, a very good friend of mine now. In the morning she used to 1st come to mensa,the diing hall, were I used to sit after coming to school. Everyday she used to take me in the class as I was new and so that I don’t have any problem in finding the rooms. Other students had a problem in speaking English. But hats of to them as whenever I didn’t understand in the class they translated for us. They are very sweet people. It was hard for me to say goodbye to my friends in school. I got a bit emotional on that day. They presented me a Switzerland cushion. At its back they all had signed. It is 1 of the best gift I ever got. Although the time I spent with them was small but the connection which has built in between us is strong. I think there is something in Swiss people. They are very friendly. Then I went out for drinking something with my classmates. The time I had spent with them will never be forgotten. I pray if some of my friends could come India with the other exchange student. There will be a ray of hope to see them again. But you don’t get everything what you wish. But hope to see them again.

Last at School...........By Shubhita Mathur

10 May
The last day of the school was one of the best day,spent in Kantonschule.We asked whole of the class to share their experience and their thoughts about INDIA.Well ,first of all oue English teacher said that he was surprised to see the cofidence of 3 of us.And that"s because he had heard that in INDIA woman"s never speak too much and also they are not allowed to do so.Then one of the student asked that is really INDIA same as shown in the movie-SLUMDOG MILLLIONAIRE.I said certainly not.The movie does not reflect whole of INDIA.It does show one of the negative part of INDIA but that doesn"t mean that it represents whole of INDIA.It was rather an easy way to make money from that movie.The students agrred to this point.

Then teacher asked the students that do they think INDIA is a westernised country?One of the student named ESABEL spoke that she do accept that.And she believes that INDIA is a marvellous country with lots of colours in it.

After that we had our Physics class and then we took a group photograph.Everyone greeted us and wished best for the future.

I belive that this exchange programme is one of the best way to interact and learn the culture of other country.Those people and students who come as a tourist are not able to experience the cultural difference between two countries,but being a exchange student we all had a good oppurtunity to learn their way of living and cultural.

I must therefore thanks my BANASTHALI UNIVERSITY for providing me such a good oppurtunity.,Which we all would have not got without the painstaking efforts of our respected Vice chancellor-2ADITYA SHASTRI2 and my German teacher "HASAVAHINI SINGH MAM".

The Jubiliant School Stay......By Amita Anand

attending a new school was always a nightmare for me!
because i m not an open book.It even takes my close friends a hell lot of time to know me well...and i too dont get along with anyone n everyone so easily:(....hence making some nice friends was a task so tedious for me to accomplish.

but yeah,the fear of making this accomplishment vanished as soon as i entered my class 3bn. All of the students were so friendly some of them even translated whole of the german lectures into english to help us get hold of what is going in the class otherwise all would have been "greek" for us.

I spent two beautiful weeks of my stay with them all.It was so interesting to learn about their culture,which i would not like to comment upon!(wanna discuss it sometime later)

one thing i really like about ,there people are that they real philanthropists,they take so much care of the handicapped,In every front of their life they care of them

Now my last days in the school,they were so beautiful,i always have a smile on my face remembering them:)on the last day somethin rilly comic happened.the boyz of our class were extremely shy ,they usually toked among themselves and laughed as loud as they could but we could seldom get what they were really tokin abt!

we all on our last day were dying to get a photograph with our class students,as it was going to be the last memoire for us to remember this golden time,and when we asked for one the stupendous:)...all of them ran outside the class to sit on a tree bark for a cherubic photograph.

But yeah,it was really touching,as we were already attached and were a part of the "kantonsschule" .With a heavy heart we said goood bye to all our just made friends and wished them luck for the rest of their lives and they also reciprocated it in a beautiful way

Who says school days are over.............by Aditya Divya Singh.....

Eeeks… my first day at Kantonsschule ,Solothurn !! It was such a strange feeling and i wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement that i was feeling. We were all dressed in Indian clothing and stood out like a beacon. Bettina and I managed to reach school before time and it was good to see familiar faces after two days! The students from Kantonsschule were present for a special assembly to welcome us and it was really interesting to hear the Yodling . The performances were followed by an address from Frau Tardo- Styner and an introduction of Banasthali University by Hamsa Ma’am. We were then taken to our respective classes and introduced to our teachers-for-one-month. My first class was Art and Udita and Sneha were in the same class, We enjoyed ourselves immensly. And then came Maths- the one subject I run away from! But, I surpisingly enjoyed the class partly because of the humour from the teacher and partly because everyone was friendly !! Actually , we also got a welcome song from our class which seemed like it was their own invention. The day went on with us going to different classes and introducing ourselves to the teachers and trying to understand what they were teaching. Overall it was a great experience and i felt like i was in school again. Since the time I passed out from school, I always wished I had had more time at school and coming to Kantonsschule made it possible all thanks to my University, Aditya sir and Hamsa Ma’am.

Our Schedule................By Sneha Sharma

Here comes our way of living here ......one of the important parts of the blog......Here each of us has been assigned to a different family and we gradually learn to live as they live and work with them and also help them in our own possible way so while i was getting excited, nervous and confused all at the same time by thinking about the prospect of going to school I was gradually getting accustomed to the lifestyle my family lived.

Now, I try and help my parents(although they never let me do any work) in their household chores and try and converse with my brother who is a bit shy and talk about a lot of stuff with my sister. Now, it seems like I am living in a different world with my family. Although, Its just a new family so now I can say I have two families!!!

Every day I go to school with my sister and attend all the classes there although we are not studying the subjects its just so that we can listen to people speak german and we try to catch their words and learn from it. Then after school we join our families and may go out somewhere or just have conversations with them. Its like the same stuff we do in India but here the topics generally relate to knowing about each others life and enjoying each others company leading to such a strong bonding that we can't get ourselves with the terms with the thought of day when I leave!

The People...............By Sneha Sarma

Talking about my days with people here in Switzerland I think I got to know more than I would have if I had been staying at a different place and not with my family.

Yes, now its My Family it was really a very nice and beautiful experience. I stayed in the same house shared the same routine and the same calm and quite life. Life seems to give a lot here. I really felt at home and didn't miss my family at all. It was just so nice and good. I only missed the hugs that my parents gave me and the small jokes that I shared with my siblings. Ofcourse I can't get that anywhere except my house but apart from that I could still share in my new family's jokes and laughter and rheir calm and quite life. I am so glad to be in Banasthali now that I got this opportunity. Even people in school were very nice and helpful. They just came over and talked with us so that it helped us overcome our discomfort and then we were easily settled in our class. Everything was in high German. So we could learn German easily.

I call my host father Chachaji( he selected it out of the various choices) and my host mother Chachi ( her own choice) and my host sister is Jasmin and brother Samuel. I just can't think about not meeting them again so have planned to stay in touch with them and try to visit them again.

Scenic Switzerland...........by Aditya Divya Singh

The fact that I was in switzerland did not sink in till the time I was meeting my exchange partner at the Hauptbahnhof,solothurn! Till then I was quite numb and the only thing that penetrated the numbness was the excitement, the enthusiasm of all the fellow students from India. The first step onto the swiss soil and I saw the beauty of the place. Then we met Frau Kully at the Zurich Airport to go to Solothurn where our exchange partners were waiting for us. The scenery was wonderful and I felt so grateful to Banastahli University and Hamsa ma'am for giving me this opportunity. Although I've been to Switzerland before but there is a large difference between a leisure trip and a cultural exchange program! At 4:00 PM, we were being introduced to our partners and their families and we all left with our respective host families. I had no idea about my exchange partner's interests because she could not mail to me before due to exams but meeting her all my doubts vanished. Bettina Siegenthaler is a really nice girl and her mother Brigitt Siegenthaler struck me as a motherly figure though she is miles away from the category of plump figure. The three of us clicked instantly and they did the best to make me feel at home. It was so nice to speak to them about different topics and I realised that they were so positive about everything. I asked Frau Siegenthaler how i should call her and she said that it was okay if I called her Brigitt. She made really delicious Karrotkuchen or to say in switz deutsch Rüblikuchen.. Before going to bed I gave them some tokens from India and it was a little emotional. At that moment I was hit by this wave of homesickness and fear, and it was all vented out as tears when i was in the toilet. I managed to steady myself and went to bed to be fresh for the next day.